You’re applying for an opportunity and those fateful words appear ‘include a brief bio’. Argh. What does that even mean? Should you include the school play you were in when you were 10 and what about the fact that you are really good at playing dominoes? Do. Not. Fear. Use our bio builder to create a brilliant bio in no time at all…(and no, you shouldn’t include the school play or the dominoes).

Introduce yourself.

(Your name) is  a (playwright? a playwright and director?).

Now describe your best achievements.

Where’s the best place you’ve had work produced? Or perhaps you’ve just graduated from a writing MA? Put your best stuff here. 

Other credentials.

List other achievements, perhaps you’ve developed work with a theatre company or completed a course a while back?

What you do now?

Are you working in a job that is related to writing? Or are you working on a playwriting project you’d like to mention?

What you want to do next?

Perhaps you want to change the word with your writing? Or branch out into screenwriting? You might include something here that is specific to the opportunity you are applying for.

A closing statement.

Here’s your chance to add a bit of personality, such as what you do when you’re not writing, especially if it’s something fun or unusual.

Wait…what if I don’t have any writing experience?

That’s ok, you can still write a really good bio! Just be honest and talk about what you’ve been doing up until now and why you’ve turned your hand to playwriting. It’s perfectly valid to say something like…

Sarah is an emerging writer, who after working in corporate world for a decade, has decided to realise her dream of becoming a playwright.

Or

After taking a break from writing to bring up his children, David now wants to pick up where he left off and get his work on the stage.

It’s absolutely fine to be open about your level of experience and it’s much better than making things up because you’ll inevitably get caught out if you do. Playwrights come from all walks of life and the theatre world would be boring if we didn’t!

TIP

These headers are really just pointers and you don’t need to answer all of them. If you’ve got lots of experience, you might find your bio is too long if you answer all of these so feel free to pick and choose. You should also think about tailoring your bio to specific applications if necessary.